The disclosure relates generally to servicing multiple counters based on a single access check, and more specifically, to an instruction to save all counters within a counter set via one check of access controls respective to that counter set to enable efficient servicing of the counters.
As computer systems increase in complexity the number of hardware instrumentation counters has increased to gain insight into the hardware performance. Operating systems serving client applications using the hardware collect these instrumentation counters to gain insight into how the workload performs. These instrumentation counters are often grouped together into sets of counters that collect information on a common subsystem. Each set of counters includes associated activation and authorization controls. Currently, when the instrumentation counters are serviced, only one counter is extracted at a time. Thus, for each counter in the counter set, an access check must be performed for that counter, which results in additional overhead processing.